The present invention relates to an insulating material comprising blankets to be used for insulating buildings, which blankets are provided with joining elements along their edges for forming a joint between individual blankets. The present invention furthermore relates to a method for joining together such insulating material comprising blankets and to a wall or roof construction comprising blankets that have been joined together.
European patent application no. 0 494 053 discloses a shed with a pneumatic supporting structure, wherein the individual sheets are joined by means of the toothed zipper construction that has been known for a long time already. Such a joint is unsatisfactory as regards its insulating characteristics.
European patent application no. 0 250 002 discloses a closure system for insulating pipes, which closure system is cut out of the insulating material itself and which comprises interlocking teeth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,169 discloses a mesh-like screen construction that is used as a flexible garage door screen. The mesh-like screen construction has a grid spacing wide enough to pass air and smoke but narrow enough to inhibit the passage of mosquitos, flies, and other pests. The joint between the screens is based on the traditional toothed zipper.
The insulating material referred to in the introduction is known per se, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,537. According to said US patent specification, the blankets are not glued or stapled together, but the blanket includes an edge strip, which edge strip forms an overlap with a next blanket, thus making it possible to provide the desired vapor barrier and the desired joint between the individual blankets. In addition, in many cases an additional stapled joint is used.
One drawback of a joint of this type is that frequently the roof construction exhibits ripples to a significant degree. Such ripples are formed when workers do not place blankets in proper abutment with each other and when differences in length occur during installation between blankets lying adjacently to each other. Another drawback is the fact that in a number of buildings the presence of a vapor-inhibiting screen on the insulating material in question is required for reasons relating to building physics, to which end special vapor-inhibiting foils are applied to the insulating blankets. In practice, however, the aforesaid connecting system constitutes a weak link, as a result of which the intended vapor-inhibiting effect is partially lost, which is undesirable. Another drawback is the fact that the blankets do not have a fixed point where to join each other, as a consequence of which such blankets cannot be positioned in proper parallel abutment with each other upon installation thereof, so that the blankets extend slightly obliquely and consequently the lengths of insulating material are not contiguous to each other. In addition, there is a considerable risk of thermal bridges being formed at the place where the blankets join each other, so that the primary function of the blanket, i.e. thermal insulation, is lost in part.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art, in particular with regard to the presence of folds, ripples and thermal bridges.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an insulating material that can be installed quickly and efficiently.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an insulating material that, once installed, can be removed again without damaging the insulating material.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an insulation system that can be installed in the roof of a building, for example, whilst a visually acceptable seam joint is maintained both on the front side and on the rear side, wherein the insulation system is also suitable for subsequent installation on the inside of the building.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an insulating material which can be installed by non-specialist personnel.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an insulating material by means of which a visually acceptable seam joint is obtained.
According to the present invention, the insulating material referred to in the introduction is characterized in that a zipper construction is used as the joining element, said zipper construction comprising: a blanket provided with a first joining strip including a first section, which extends continuously along the length of the first joining strip ;a blanket provided with a second joining strip including a second section, which extends continuously along the length of the second joining strip, wherein the dimension and the shape of said first section and said second section have been selected to enable the second section to engage in the first section in order to join the first joining strip and the second joining strip together so as to provide a joint between individual blankets.
The special construction for joining one or more blankets that is used in the present invention provides satisfactory thermal insulation. In addition, the blankets can be easily and quickly installed in parallel relationship to each other, thus providing a joint that is sound from the viewpoint of building physics(vapor-inhibition).
Although a glass fibre blanket comprising a zipper construction is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,771, the use of the glass fibre blanket that is known therefrom is only suitable for insulating a boiler or a pipe. The special use according to the present invention, viz. the thermal or acoustic insulation of buildings is not known therefrom. Furthermore said patent specification provides no information with regard to the special zipper construction.
In addition to that, a construction for joining insulation elements is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,626, which patent specification does not provide any special information with regard to the zipper construction, nor to the special use thereof for insulating buildings.
In a special embodiment of the present insulating material the zipper construction is preferably reclosable, so that the insulating material, once installed, can easily be removed again.
In addition to that it is desirable for the zipper construction to be in the form of an extruded plastic material.
If an additional closing effect for the interlocking sections is required, it is preferred to provide the joint thus obtained with for example a filling material, adhesive tape or the like. Such an operation may also result in a permanent seam joint between the sections.
It is in particular preferable that both the first section and the second section comprise one or more hook channels extending parallel to each other, which hook channels are complementary, so that the second section can engage in the first section. A construction of this kind ensures that the blankets are firmly joined, so that the blankets will not become detached from each other after some time.
Preferably, an adhesive or a weaving operation or a sealing operation is used for permanently or durably joining the joining strip to the blanket. Sealing is in particular preferred when using plastics that are to be joined by means of heat, whereby an additional joining effect can be obtained by applying adhesive tape. Such a manner of joining provides a durable joint between the joining strip and the blanket.
Furthermore it is preferred to add to the joining strip one or more agents from the group consisting of flame-retardants, vapor inhibitors, UV-stabilizers and anti-ageing agents. The use of such agents ensures that a durable and stable joint is obtained between blankets, whereby furthermore the requirements as regards vapor inhibition are met.
It is furthermore preferable that the joining strip be made of a flexible material, so that the blanket comprising such a joining strip can be produced in the form of a roll.
The blanket that is used in the present invention preferably comprises an under-layer, on which a layer of glass wool is present. Said under-layer preferably includes one or more materials selected from the group consisting of polyester, vinyl, aluminum foil, polypropylene and kraft paper.
The present invention furthermore relates to a method for joining together insulating material in the form of blankets, which method is according to the present invention characterized in that a first blanket including the first section of the first joining strip is placed in abutment with a second blanket including the second section of the second joining strip, after which the two sections are joined by having said second section engage in said first section, using a press-down member that can be moved over both sections.
The present insulating material is in particular used for wall and roof constructions, wherein acoustic and/or thermal insulation is required. On the other hand it is also possible to use the present insulating material for walls. Although only the term blankets is used herein, it should be understood that this term also includes foil-faced insulating blankets. Besides other applications, such foil-faced insulating blankets provided with the present zipper construction are also suitable for thermal and acoustic uses.